Cornet was struggling on the scoreboard at the time too, down one set and quickly losing control of the second to her German opponent.

Luckily Cornet had good medical attention on the court, and the chair umpire was happy to allow her extended breaks between points.

Cornet is seen to by medical staff. Pic: Getty

She eventually lost the encounter in straight sets, going down 7-5 6-4.

There was a touching moment of sportsmanship between both athletes though, with a huge amount of respect shown in the post-match embrace.

The Frenchwoman later called for the extreme heat benchmarks to be lowered.

"The limit of not playing the matches is really high ... I think this limit should be a little bit lower," Cornet told reporters.

"Playing in those conditions is not nice for anyone ... for the players it's incredibly tough.

"I would never give up ... but you push your body so hard ... you almost feel like you're on the edge.

"We're high-level athletes capable of pushing the limits very far and sometimes too far, that's why I say that it could be dangerous."

The drama comes after Gael Monfils became distressed during his second-round loss to Novak Djokovic on Thursday.

The Australian Open's extreme heat policy can be enacted by the tournament referee when one of two triggers are reached - when the ambient temperature reaches 40C or when the wet bulb globe temperature (a measure of heat and humidity) passes 32.5C.